Breakfast at Tiffany’s: Beware of 'mental flabbiness'

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

The often-neglected discipline of intellectual development is essential to personal and spiritual growth that glorifies God. In “Ordering Your Private World,” Gordon MacDonald discusses the value of training the mind for strength and growth that is God-glorifying and impervious to destructive cultural influences, while offering objectives for intellectual growth and organization.

As an athlete trains the body, so the mind must also be trained. MacDonald shares a track and field story from his younger years where a talented, fast starter lost a race because he lacked the endurance to finish it well, illustrating this point: “The ordering of our private world cannot take place without strong mental endurance and the intellectual growth this endurance produces.” Additionally—like the fast starter in his track and field illustration—it must not be assumed that someone who is exceedingly gifted and experiences “premature success” automatically has the mental endurance for an ordered life. Fast starters, according to MacDonald, often live most of their lives chasing amusement, or “functioning without thought,” and are in danger of losing steam before they finish their race. While raw talent can be useful, it can also be a crutch that slows the work of developing disciplined mental acuity, resulting in what MacDonald calls “mental flabbiness.”

Mindfulness is essential for a life that glorifies God and isn’t shaped by evil cultural influences. In contrast, “mental flabbiness” can cause people to fall victim to destructive ideas and systems, the dependance on others to think for them, and “reducing themselves to lives full of rules, regulations and programs.” Paul emphasized the importance of mental strength when he wrote: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). MacDonald adds, “the transformed person (presumably transformed by the Spirit of Christ) will be busy thinking, reflecting and making independent conclusions about the meaning of life and reality.” However, though scripture instructs believers to love the Lord with all their heart, soul and mind, many Christians forfeit the gift of a strong mind through laziness and disorganization. Christians with weak minds miss an amazing opportunity to glorify God by seeking out the hidden things he longs for us to discover and share with the world (Proverbs 25:2). MacDonald suggests that Christians think of themselves as sponges, soaking up the things God created “for humankind to discover, to enjoy, and with which to perceive the nature of the Creator Himself.”

Admittedly, when I was younger, I was exactly what MacDonald calls a “fast starter.” Academics came easily to me, I was in the gifted program at school, I excelled in fine arts, and graduated valedictorian of my class. But as MacDonald accurately predicts, it only took me so far, and I found myself floundering intellectually as I entered ministry in my mid-twenties and early thirties. Until that point, I had only studied defensively, as a means to an end. In school, it was for an A. As a ministry leader, it was so I could teach a good Bible lesson each week.

Reading was boring to me, and I felt like it was a waste of time when there were more “important” things to do. As a Christian, I was easily swayed by popular waves of doctrine and could not effectively defend my faith against worldly ideologies. However, when my kids reached school age, I decided to homeschool them and began extensive research on how to do it correctly. Through that research, I realized that defensive study was not the most effective way to learn.

While discovering ways to instill a love for learning within my kids that would last them a lifetime, something sparked within me as well. While reading books out loud to my kids and learning things along with them that I never learned in public school, I developed a love for reading and a longing to devour as much literature in as many different subjects as possible. I immediately saw how studying for growth while maintaining a strong biblical worldview broadened my understanding and appreciation for the world around me and made me a more effective minister of the gospel. This proverb rings true for me: “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings [or people] is to search out a matter” (Proverbs 25:2, parenthesis mine).

Gordon MacDonald, Ordering Your Private World (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007)